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Doctor Manhattan vs. Q
Doctor Manhattan vs Q is a What-If? Death Battle by I'm Lynda. It features Doctor Manhattan from DC Comics’ Watchmen series, and Q from the Star Trek media franchise. Description Two individuals who appear to be nigh unto omnipotent, whose power comes from their understanding of, and their ability to manipulate, the laws of physics. And we bring them together to battle to the death! Interlude Lex Luthor: There are many very powerful individuals. Some get their power through magic, and some get their power through the use of technology. But, these two combatants are different. Tony Stark: That’s right, instead of using the laws of physics to make weapons, these two combatants manipulate the laws of physics to alter reality. Luthor: The first is Doctor Manhattan, a lowly scientist transformed into a manipulator of worlds. Stark: And the other is Q, a member of an alien race that fancies itself omnipotent and omniscient. Luthor: I am Lex Luthor, and he is Tony Stark, and it is our job to analyze these highly-evolved masters of reality manipulation, and find out who would win a Death Battle. Stark: You know, Lexy, I got the call to do this fight at the last minute...again. What has happened to Wiz and Boomstick this time? Luthor: Apparently they contracted some sort of disease. One, no doubt, caused by unclean living. Stark: Um-hum. And you had nothing to do with it, right? Luthor: Stark, would I stoop so low? Stark: In a heartbeat, Lexy. In...a...heartbeat. Doctor Manhattan Lex Luthor: Doctor Manhattan was born Jonathan Osterman, the son of a German watchmaker. As Jonathan’s mother was Jewish, Osterman and his father fled the Nazis, and immigrated to the United States. Tony Stark: After his father read about the dropping of the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima, he decided that Jonathan should study physics, rather than watch making. And being a dutiful son, like yours truly, Jonathan became a physicist. Luthor: On the fateful day of August 20, 1959, Osterman became trapped in a test chamber, where his “intrinsic field” was disrupted, completely breaking down his atomic structure. Stark: But, that was not the end of Jonathan Osterman. Somehow, he was able to establish a new “intrinsic field,” and he was back. Only, he was now blue, hairless (never trust anyone bald, Lexy), and, strangely, adverse to wearing clothes. Luthor: More than that, Osterman was now able to perceive reality on an atomic, and even sup-atomic level, and he could manipulate reality to a degree that made him the most powerful man on the planet. Stark: The United States Government was glad to have him, and Osterman, newly rechristened Doctor Manhattan became the cornerstone of America’s defense strategy. He frightened the bejesus out of the Soviets, and when he was sent to Vietnam, he won the war almost singlehandedly. All without donning more than a pair of very brief briefs! Luthor: Just before the events of the alien incursion into New York City (would that all aliens exploded on arrival), Doctor Manhattan left the planet and moved to the planet Mars. Stark: Doctor Manhattan is an ultra-powerful individual. He senses reality down to its atomic and sub-atomic organization. As such, to him, something is beautiful because of its sub-atomic, atomic and molecular organization. He does not perceive life to be anything special, because it is just another atomic organization or chemical reaction. Luthor: He can perceive reality down to the sub-atomic level, and he can manipulate reality down to the sub-atomic level. He can create just about anything he wants, and he can destroy just about anything he wants...if not *literally* anything he wants. He can teleport. And he claims to have walked on the surface of the Sun. Stark: He does, though, seem to have one weakness, and that is tachyonic particles. At one point, Ozymandias used them to create a static field that clouded Manhattan’s view of the future. But, that seems to be about it. Can Doctor Manhattan be destroyed? Perhaps not. Q Lex Luthor: Q is a rather simplistic name taken by a very complex individual. Claiming to be billions of years old, Q also claims to be omniscient and omnipotent. Tony Stark: Q is a member of a race, which is paradoxically also called the Q. Heck, all Qs call themselves and each other “Q.” But, somehow they seem to know what they are talking about. Luthor: Indeed. The Q have apparently been involved in human affairs for millennia, with one Q having been the one to jostle the tree, causing an apple to fall on Sir Isaac Newton’s head. Stark: Yeah, the Q can be a playful group, but even their play can be deadly serious. Q (yeah, the one we’re talking about here, not the other Qs) has tormented beings across the universe as a form of studying them. Luthor: You see, the Q seem to practically, if not literally, live up to Q’s boast of being omnipotent. He has caused warp core breaches on a whim, can teleport anywhere, can change the orbit of moons with a snap of his fingers, can change things in size down to being the size of atoms, and he can know where anyone is whenever he wants. He has even claimed the power to change the gravitational constant of the universe. Stark: And when Qs fight each other, as they did during a rather dramatic civil war, their combat manifested itself as multiple stars going nova. When Q fought a deranged, super-charged Q named Trelane, he escaped first into a parallel universe, and later back in time to the Big Bang itself. Luthor: It does seem that Q’s power is not so much magic as it is a sort of super-science, where he can perceive the fabric of reality, and manipulate it to his own liking. Stark: But the Q, being a sort of society to seem to have some rules that they follow. At one time, the Q Continuum stripped Q of his powers, and turned him into a normal human being. This seems to suggest that, even if Qs can do whatever they like, they restrain each other from doing what they shouldn’t. If Q has a weakness, that’s what it is. Intermission Luthor: Alright the combatants are now set; and it is time to end this debate once and for all. Stark: That’s right, its time for a super-science DEATH BATTLE! DEATH BATTLE! Pre-Fight Doctor Manhattan stood on the highest point of Olympus Mons, and looked out across the beautiful red Martian landscape. From here, the very curvature of the planet was visible to the naked eye. But, Doctor Manhattan’s eyes could see so much more. He could see the variations in the planet’s gravitational field. He could see the anemic magnetic fields that radiated here and there across its surface. He could see ultraviolet radiation snapping the bond between two carbon atoms one hundred kilometers away. He could see a neutrino pass harmlessly through the entirety of Phobos, Mars’ larger satellite. And, beyond that, he could see the universe...the universes. “Ze old Earth historian, Plutarch, wrote zat Alexander broke down and vept ven Anaxarchus told him zat zere is an infinite number of vorlds, for he had not...even...conquered...vun.” Doctor Manhattan turned and looked. There was a man standing next to him. He looked exactly like Albert Einstein. Albert Einstein standing in the upper reaches of the thin Martian atmosphere without a space suit. “But you, Herr Doktor, you know zat zere are an infinite number of vorlds, and you vant to get out zere, don’t you?” Manhattan studied the man. To a few senses, he looked like a normal human, with kindly brown eyes and gray, frizzy hair. But, to other senses, he appeared anything but normal. To these senses, most humans and creatures looked like four dimensional snakes or worms wiggling through the space-time continuum. But, this man looked like an infinite burst of light, everywhere and nowhere, all at the same time. “What are you?” Doctor Manhattan asked him. “Ze disguise didn’t fool you?” He asked, shock registering disingenuously on his face. "Ah vell," he added. Then, he snapped his fingers, there was a flash of light and Albert Einstein was replaced with a tall man with dark brown hair and dark brown eyes. The man smiled. “Well, I wanted to make this first meeting as comfortable for you as possible. Of course, you really don’t care about outward things like clothes do you? You’re going to get a sunburn that way, Herr Doktor.” He turned and looked up at Phobos. Both men could see it charging through its thrice-a-day orbit. “You can call me ‘Q,’ that’s as good a name as any.” He turned back and smiled. “As for what I am, I am a member of the Q Continuum. We are a race that is immortal, omnipotent, omniscient, and just about omni-everything.” Q snapped his fingers, and a high-backed chair winked into existence behind him. Doctor Manhattan could sense that another one had winked into existence behind him as well. “Shall we sit?” Q asked. “If we are going to talk, we can at least be comfortable.” He snapped his fingers, and a glass of wine winked into existence in each man’s hand as they sat down. “It’s said that with great power comes great responsibility...or at least it will be. This means that the Q have very great responsibilities indeed.” Q took a drink of his wine. Doctor Manhattan stared blankly back at him. “We cannot allow omnipotent beings to roam free through the multiverse unchecked, causing whatever havoc they like. There must be checks and balances. You see, Herr Doctor, there is what can be, and what must be. You can have as much fun as you like with what can be, but you must never touch what must be.” Q leaned forward, and gazed deeply into Manhattan’s white eyes. “And you have been playing with what must be.” Q sat back, and took another sip of wine. “You have being playing god with the universe, with multiple universes, and it must stop. You must be stopped.” Doctor Manhattan banished his wine glass from existence. “I have already put myself into a box.” Doctor Manhattan answered. “I have put the universe back where it belongs, and am not changing it.” Q shook his head sadly. “You aren’t that naïve, Herr Doktor. You know that you have changed human history on this Earth, and that you have meddled, are meddling, and will meddle with other universes, other Earths.” Q took another sip of wine. “I’m afraid that it must be stopped.” Doctor Manhattan’s mouth assumed a slight frown. “But there are things that can be changed, and must be changed...and must be changed by me.” Q shook his head again. “No, my good Doctor, that cannot be. You have the power, but not the knowledge, not the judgment. We cannot allow you to make the changes you want to make.” Doctor Manhattan stood up, and faced Q. “So, that is all there is?” Q stood up, and fixed Doctor Manhattan with steely eyes. "That’s all that there ever could be.” FIGHT! Doctor Manhattan called into existence a beam of Gamma radiation, which staggered Q, but did not destroy him. “Temper tantrums, Herr Doktor? You know you must take your medicine.” Q told him, shaking his head. Doctor Manhattan folded the ground around Q, raising up a pair of large basalt slabs, that toppled over onto him. But, before the rocks could connect, Q winked out of existence, and appeared ten meters to the side. Q snapped his fingers, and Manhattan felt the molecular bonds holding his atoms together begin to release. He bent the world around him, simultaneously moving himself behind Q and reforming the molecular structure of his body. Q spun around, raised his finger, and opened his mouth to speak. Before he could say anything, Doctor Manhattan called into existence a stream of highly charged electrons, which bathed the area around Q. Q raised his hands, and raised an electro-magnetic field before him. The ground around him sizzled and vaporized, raising a cloud of plasma that rose angrily into the Martian sky. Suddenly, a noise reached Manhattan’s ears, and he felt that Q had moved. Q was standing a kilometer away. He snapped his fingers, and the center of Olympus Mons cracked open, plummeting Manhattan down towards the planet’s core. Manhattan stopped his descent, and pondered his situation. This attack was not a serious attack. Q was trying to get him to do something, but what? Suddenly, with a rumble, Olympus shook and crumbled, millions of tonnes of rock crashed down on Doctor Manhattan. He warped reality, and placed himself two hundred kilometers from Q. He multiplied the local gravitational field around Q, and caused the rock structured around him to crumble and collapse, pulling Q down with it. Q floated up from the crumbling ground, a look of determination playing across his face. He snapped his fingers, and gravitational field around Manhattan rose exponentially. The Doctor looked up, and saw Phobos plunging from its orbit, its new trajectory taking the rock right towards him. The Doctor warped reality again, and moved off a thousand kilometers. Phobos struck the surface of the planet, causing the surrounding surface to buckle and heave. Manhattan could feel the entire planet ringing like a bell as the shockwaves ricocheted through its mass. This Q individual was a creature of energy, so he had to find the right energy attack to disrupt him. He detected Q standing in the center of the Hellas Panitia, so he reached into probability, and turned six kilograms of normal matter beneath him into anti-matter. The entirety of the Hellas impact basin exploded, like a firework of the gods. Again, Doctor Manhattan felt the planet ringing with the shockwaves of the battle. Huge cracks were opening in the Martian surface, and molten magma was rising from its previously cooling core. Q winked into existence right in front of Doctor Manhattan. His eyes were narrowed, and Manhattan could see perspiration on his forehead. “That was good, Herr Doktor, but let’s up the ante, shall we?” Q snapped his fingers. Suddenly, Doctor Manhattan felt the gravitational field of the entirety of Mars increase exponentially. The surface bellowed and buckled, as the entire mass of the planet began to crumble and compress towards its center. Q snapped his fingers again, and the gravitational field suddenly dropped to practically nothing. Mars seemed to go nova, as its mass heaved and exploded outward. Doctor Manhattan realized that this Q individual was willing to do anything to destroy him, so he needed a stronger attack. He warped reality, and moved himself out to Kuiper Belt. He was now standing on an ice and rock world the size of Earth. It was so distant that the Sun was no more than a bright star in its eternally-night sky. He knew that he had mere seconds before his attacker followed him, so he warped gravity, and moved three nearby planetoids onto a collision course with this one. There was a flash of light, and Q appeared no more than two meters in front of Doctor Manhattan. Manhattan smiled, and bowed his head. And then, he warped reality and moved himself to another ice and rock world, just as the four unnamed worlds exploded in a conflagration far beyond the view of mortal men. He was still gazing towards the cataclysm when Q suddenly winked back into existence in front of him. He was panting, and he ran his fingers through his swear-soaked hair. “Phew, I haven’t had a work out like this is in millions of years. Let’s try something really slick, shall we?” Suddenly, Manhattan felt himself being bathed in tachyonic particles. Q raised his hand and snapped his fingers. Manhattan felt his own energy field begin to waver, like a candle flickering in a breeze. He stretched out his powers, and warped space and time, determined to move himself beyond this being’s ken. * * * Doctor Manhattan looked around. He was not at all where he expected to be. He was standing in the research base at Gila Flats. He could read the time, and tell that it was 1959...August 20th. This was not too bad. Manhattan could feel himself existing like a ghost. He was before his own creation. He was little more than a quantum possibility. Perhaps the Q individual would not be able to detect him here/now. He looked over at the intrinsic field experiment test chamber, and could see the open door. He/Jon Osterman stepped into the room, and walked purposefully towards the door. He/Doctor Manhattan could see that the door timer was wrong. He/Doctor Manhattan prepared to extend his powers and change the timer. Suddenly, a voice rang out. “Doctor Osterman! You forgot your coat!” He/Jon Osterman and he/Doctor Manhattan turned towards the voice. A janitor was standing in the hallway waving his/Jon Osterman’s coat and smiling. He/Doctor Manhattan was appalled to see that the janitor was actually Q. Q handed the coat to him/Jon Osterman. “You need to be more careful with your stuff, Doc. You never know what could happen.” “Thanks,” Jon Osterman said. Then, he reached into a pocket of the coat, pulled out Janey’s watch, and looked at it. “That’s a nice watch, Doc.” Q said, peering at the item in the other man’s hand. “You know, my cousin had one just like it that got broke, and when it was repaired the darn thing refused to work. It took him a long time to realize that the back cover had gotten magnetized. You watch that now. Take care of that, and everything will work just as it should.” ' “Thanks,”'' Jon answered. Then, he patted Q on the shoulder and ran back out of the building.'' Q turned, and looked at the wavering quantum possibility of Doctor Manhattan. He looked sad. “I told you, Herr Doktor, there are things that can be, and things that must be. You are something that must...not...be, Good bye.” He put his hand to his mouth and blew a kiss at the wavering possibility. It winked out of existence. '''KO! Q snapped his fingers, and was now dressed in the robes of a post-Atomic Wars judge. Earth history really only got interesting after the atomic wars. He smiled, and snapped his fingers again. He disappeared in a flash of light. Results Stark: Well, that was an exciting exercise in the laws of physics. Luthor: Indeed. And as far as a battle between these two combatants could have gone, a pretty tame one. Stark: The two combatants were pretty evenly matched, in terms of their powers. The problem for Doctor Manhattan was that Q had billions of years of experience exercising his powers, whereas Doctor Manhattan had only had a few years. Luthor: According to the book series, “The Q Continuum,” Q had experience in dealing with other omnipotent beings, whereas Doctor Manhattan had none. Stark: Also, while Doctor Manhattan could travel in time, going before the time of his own creation seemed to place some limits on him, while Q could navigate space and time, pretty much at a whim. Luthor: And, finally, Q is something of a trickster, and does enjoy playing with opponents, while working to manipulate them to his own ends. Stark: Yep, Doctor Manhattan just didn’t have the time to deal with a threat of Q’s magnitude, so the winner is Q! Luthor: Hey, Stark, I just found a box of chocolates here, do you want some? Stark: What does this note say? “From an adoring fan.” And it’s written in your handwriting. No thanks, Lexy. I don’t think that that chocolate would be good for me. Next Time Next time on Death Battle! we bring together two kick-ass women. That is to say, two women who really know how to kick ass! That’s right, it’s Aeon Flux vs. Batgirl! Trivia Poll How many stars would you rate Doctor Manhattan vs. Q? 5 stars 4 stars 3 stars 2 stars 1 star Category:What-If? 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